Friday, March 31, 2017

Village People

Village People is an American disco group well known
for their on-stage costumes depicting American masculine cultural stereotypes
as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. Originally created by
Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo to target disco's gay audience by featuring
popular gay fantasy personae, the band quickly became popular and moved into
the mainstream. The group scored several disco and dance hits, including
"Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of
"San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood", "In the
Navy", and their greatest hit, "Y.M.C.A."

The group was the creation of Jacques Morali, a French
musical composer. He had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo
tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. Morali approached Willis and told
him, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very
big". Willis agreed to sing on the eponymous debut album, Village People.

It became a hit, and demand for live appearances soon
followed. Under the collaboration Can't Stop Productions, Morali and his
business partner Henri Belolo hastily built a group of dancers around Willis to
perform in clubs and on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The band's name refers
to New York City's Greenwich Village, at the time known for its large gay
population. Morali and Belolo created a group of stereotypes based on the
fantasy attire often worn by gay men of Greenwich Village when socializing. As
the Village People's popularity grew, Morali, Belolo, and Willis saw the need
for a permanent "group". They took out an ad in a music trade
magazine which read: "Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have A
Moustache."

Morali met the first recruit, Felipe Rose (who dressed as
a Native American), on the streets of Greenwich Village. Rose was a bartender
who wore jingle bells on his boots, and was invited to take part in the
sessions for the first album. Alex Briley (who started portraying an athlete
but eventually took on the soldier persona) was hand-picked by Willis to be in
the group. The others were Mark Mussler (construction worker), Dave Forrest
(cowboy), Glenn Hughes (leatherman), and Peter Whitehead (one of the group's
early songwriters), who appeared on American Bandstand and in the video for the
group's first hit, "San Francisco (You Got Me)". Later replacements
were David Hodo (construction worker) and Randy Jones (cowboy). VictorWillis himself
portrayed a police officer.

Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead were brought
in to write lyrics for the first group album. Willis took over writing duties
for the group's biggest albums (Macho Man, Cruisin' and Go West), scoring their
biggest hits, including "Y.M.C.A.", "Macho Man", "Go
West", and "In the Navy". He also wrote for other Can't Stop
Productions acts, such as The Ritchie Family and Patrick Juvet. Gypsy Lane
(Village People band), and their conductor Horace Ott provided much of the
musical arrangements for Morali, who did not play any instruments.

The 1978 single "Macho Man" brought them
mainstream attention, and their follow-up single "Y.M.C.A." became
one of the most popular hits of the 1970s.

In 1979, the United States Navy considered using "In
the Navy" in a television and radio recruiting campaign. Belolo offered
them permission if the Navy would help film a music video for it. The Navy
provided them access to the San Diego Navy base, where the
USS Reasoner (FF-1063), several aircraft, and the crew of the ship
would be used. This song was also performed on the TV series The Love Boat, and
in the 1995 Navy comedy movie Down Periscope.

The group's fame peaked in 1979, when they made several
appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and traveled with Bob Hope to entertain
U.S. troops. They were also featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, Vol. 289,
April 19, 1979. Willis left the group at the end of an international tour in
1979, and a decline in popularity followed.

Ray Simpson, the brother of Valerie Simpson (of Ashford
& Simpson), replaced Willis for the group's highly anticipated 1980 feature
film Can't Stop the Music. The film was directed by Nancy Walker, written by
Allan Carr and Bronte Woodard, music and lyrics by Jacques Morali (except
Willis penned the lyrics to "Milkshake" and "Magic Night")
and starring Steve Guttenberg, Valerie Perrine, Jean-Claude Billmaer, and
then-Bruce Jenner. By the time it was released, however, disco's popularity
had waned, and at the March 1981 Golden Raspberry Awards, the movie was named
Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay, and was nominated in almost all the other
categories. Although the title song became a club play chart success and
moderate radio hit, it was nominated for Worst Original Song "Razzy"
and did not live up to sales expectations, never obtaining gold status as a
single or album. The soundtrack also featured the talents of David London, who
under his real name Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen became the future
lead singer of Toto and one of the main contributors to Village People's next
album. The movie itself has since become a cult favorite.

The group were among the weekly guest stars on the
November 22, 1980, episode of Love Boat (season four, episode seven:
"Secretary to the Stars/Julie's Decision/The Horse Lover/Gopher and Isaac
Buy a Horse"). At the end of 1980, Jeff Olson joined the group as the
cowboy.

In 1981, with new wave music becoming more popular than
disco, Village People took off their on-stage costumes, where they put on a new
look inspired by the New Romantic movement, and released the album Renaissance.
It only attracted minor – mostly negative – attention and produced no hits.

Victor Willis rejoined the group briefly in late 1981 for
the album Fox on the Box, which was released in 1982 in Europe and Japan, and
in 1983 in the United States under the title In the Street. Ray Simpson left
the group in 1983 and was replaced by Miles Jaye. Jaye contributed an extra
track to In the Street and performed numerous live shows and television
appearances. Mark Lee replaced David Hodo in 1982.

Their last album containing new material, the 1985
dance/Hi-NRG release Sex Over the Phone, was not a huge commercial success, but
it fared better in sales and club play than Renaissance. The title track, when
released as a single, was banned by the BBC because of its subject matter:
credit-card phone sex. The album featured yet another new lead singer, Ray
Stephens (of The Great Space Coaster fame). Py Douglas came in to sub for
Stephens for some of the group's live appearances in 1985.

In 1985 the group took a hiatus, but reunited in 1987
with the line-up of Randy Jones, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Alex
Briley, and Ray Simpson. Since 1988, the group has managed itself under the
name Sixuvus Ltd.

Due to their easily recognizable characters, the group
have frequently been imitated or parodied in movies, television series, video
games and music. Numerous covers and homages of their songs have been recorded.
The stereotypical masculine characters, particularly the leather-clad biker
character with a horseshoe mustache, have also become a widespread pop culture
icons associated with male gay culture and Y.M.C.A. has become something of an
anthem of the LGBT community.